Hiding Place
by Ellabee15
Summary: Ororo and Sam meet in a particularly awkward situation.


Ororo stepped out of the bath and wrapped her hair in a towel. She considered grabbing another towel to dry off, but decided to use her abilities to heat the water off her skin. Opening her closet, she deliberated what to wear. It had been a long day running simulations in the Danger Room and she was grateful for the chance to unwind. She was just grabbing her most comfortable pajamas to put them on when the door to her room was yanked open and a man rushed in, slamming it behind him and leaning against it. He was breathing heavily and looked terrified. He glanced around the room, caught sight of Ororo and froze.

"Ummm." He said, looking her down and then back up really quickly. "I… I didn't know."

Ororo crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Look." He said, holding up his hands. "I really don't mean to barge in on you like this, but I to need to hide. If Wolverine finds me, he'll kill me." He closed his eyes.

"And what makes you so sure Wolverine is the one you should be afraid of." Ororo asked.

"He's got claws?" The man suggested. He opened his eyes and looked straight into her eyes. Then his widened when he took in the blue eyes and white hair. "Shit…" He'd recognized her. "You're Storm."

"And you're Falcon." Ororo said. The Avengers had recently been frequently around the mansion; Captain America had become very outspoken in protecting Mutant rights and had pushed for an alliance between his team and the X-Men. She'd seen Sam Wilson around Captain Rogers, but she'd never been formally introduced. Before he could reply there was a knock at the door.

"Ro?" Logan's angry voice called out. Wilson paled. Ororo sighed and grabbed his arm, shoving him into the closet.

"Don't. Move." She hissed, shutting the door. Her room door opened a split second later and Logan came in. Apparently he'd gotten bored of waiting for her to open the door and taken matters into his own hands.

"Did you see the Avengers' newest bird flapping around?" he grunted.

"Hello, Ororo, thank you for so graciously not zapping me to oblivion for entering your room." Ororo said. Logan growled.

"I knocked." He pointed out.

"Usually people wait for an answer." Ororo said. "And don't remain in a woman's room when she's clearly in the middle of something."

Logan glanced at her nakedness. 'snot something I haven't seen before." He grunted. "Falcon. Where is he?"

Ororo put her hands on her hips. "Do I look like I've been entertaining visitors?" She asked. "Don't." She held up a hand as Logan made to reply. "Don't answer that; just get out."

Logan took one last suspicious look around the room, then left slamming the door.

Ororo grabbed the pajamas she'd taken out of the closet before Wilson's intrusion and pulled them on. Wilson, to his credit, hadn't tried to come out yet.

"It's safe." Ororo said. The door opened slowly and he stepped out, a hand thrown over his eyes.

"Is it?" He asked. Ororo smiled, pulling his hand from his face. He nervously glanced down and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw she was wearing clothes. "I'm really, really sorry." He pointed to the door and said. "I'll just see myself out."

"Not a good idea." Ororo said. "Logan will be tearing the mansion upside down trying to find you…what did you do anyways?" She motioned to a sofa next to her window. Wilson sat; his posture tense and alert.

"Logan won't come in here again." Ororo said. "He knows better."

Wilson chuckled. "I'm that obvious?"

"You look terrified." Ororo said.

Wilson looked at his hands. "I may have…insulted the Canadian hockey team." He mumbled. Ororo laughed. "It's not funny." He insisted. "and it's all Stark's fault." He sighed. "On a scale of one to ten how dead am I?"

"Well." Ororo said. "If you were planning a vacation to space; now would be the time to take it." She grinned as Sam groaned. "How badly did you insult them?"

"Stark spent the entire jet ride here spouting hockey stats, which was as weird as it was annoying because none of us knew he even watched sports. When we got here, Logan was watching hockey in the den; I was so sick of hearing about damn hockey, that I might have said something to the effect that it wasn't a real sport and that a group of children could beat the Canadian hockey team…I didn't know he was Canadian." He shrugged. "When I saw how pissed he was I ran…this place is huge and I just turned a few corners and opened the first door I saw." He winced. "And accidentally say you in your natural state." He tilted his head. "I know you're worshipped as a goddess; please don't turn me into an animal and have me torn apart by dogs as punishment."

Ororo laughed. "Priestess." She corrected. "Not goddess. The women in my family are priestesses." She held out her hand; "I'm Ororo, Ororo Munroe."

"Sam Wilson." He said, shaking it. "And I guess I'm doubly dead when Logan finds out I saw you in your birthday suit."

"Why?" Ororo asked.

"Because you…and him." Sam's expression faltered. "Aren't you?"

Ororo looked at him in horror. "Why would you think that?"

"He said that he'd seen you…" He hesitated and didn't say the word naked. "Before." Sam said, defensively.

"We've been teammates for a very long time." Ororo explained. "We've been in battle, he's seen me in situations where my clothes have been partially blasted off or he's had to tear them off to perform emergency surgery." She tilted her head. "So yeah, he's seen me naked, but not in moments that would inspire him to act on it." She paused, noting with amusement how relieved Sam looked.

"I get it." He said. "I've seen more of Thor and Hawkeye than anyone should ever see."

"I'm pretty sure a large majority of the female students and some of the male students might disagree with you." Ororo said, amused.

"Then they can swap places with me." Sam said. "It's like the two of them go out of their way to end up naked or at the minimum shirtless." He shook his head. "Apparently 'brothers in arms' have different standards of propriety and Barton…well he's Barton."

Ororo laughed. Sam gave her a small smile.

"How long do I have to stay here before its safe?" he asked. Ororo raised an eyebrow.

"Am I really such horrible company?"

Sam flushed. "That came out wrong. I figured you wouldn't want me around too much."

Ororo smiled. "Well, harboring you helps me get back at Logan for the particularly painful sparring session we had yesterday."

"Is that where the bruises on your…" Sam trailed off. "Never mind, shutting up." He added quickly when Ororo threw him a look.

Ororo sat on her bed and cris crossed her legs. "So, what brings you by to the mansion?"

"Mandatory funtime." Sam sighed. "Not that you guys aren't cool, it's just that Cap's going overkill with the whole team cohesion thing."

Ororo nodded.

"I was planning on settling a score with Angel, but I guess that's out the window now." Sam mumbled.

Ororo rolled her eyes. "Boys." She said affectionately thinking of how competitive Warren could be.

"Boys?" Sam said. "Really? And just who was it that took on Thor a few weeks back to prove her weather dominance."

"That…"Ororo opened her mouth than shut it as Sam grinned. "That's different." She insisted.

"Uh huh?" Sam smirked.

"Do you want me to call Logan?" She asked. Sam stiffened.

"You'd send a man to his death over a joke?" He asked.

"What can I say?" Ororo shrugged. "I'm a spiteful goddess."

Sam got off the couch and onto his knees. "Forgive me, all powerful Ororo. I am but a mortal man who knows not how to speak to one so magnificent."

Ororo laughed. "I guess I'm in a merciful mood." She put her hand on his head. "You are safe from my wrath…for now."

Sam sat back on the chair and flashed her a glowing smile. "I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

The door opened and Natasha Romanov entered.

"I need to invest in a lock." Ororo muttered. "Widow."

"Storm." Natasha nodded. "Wilson, I got Wolverine off your back."

Sam grinned. "Thanks Nat."

"How?" Ororo said curiously.

"We don't ask." Sam said. "We just smile and hope to god to stay on her good side."

Natasha looked between him and Ororo and got a calculating look in her eyes. "I'll see you downstairs."

"We just got here." Sam said.

"Yeah, but Stark and Banner are about 5 minutes away from violating the rules of their playdate in the lab with Beast." Natasha shrugged. "We're going to be leaving soon." She turned. Ororo grinned.

"She is still scary as hell." Sam muttered, standing. Holding out his hand, "I had fun crashing in your room, despite the potential death by claws."

Ororo took his hand; it was warm, just like Sam's smile.

Sam cleared his throat. "So…do you want to get coffee some time?" He asked. "I could use a conversation with someone normal sometimes."

"Normal?" Ororo raised an amused eyebrow. "I can cause a hailstorm when I sneeze."

A large explosion sounded from the labs. Ororo and Sam rushed to the window in time to see Tony Stark running from the mansion out into the grounds yelling; "THEY MAY TAKE OUR SCIENCE BUT THEY WILL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM."

Sam covered his face and sighed. "I grade on a curve."


End file.
